US authorities say the person they believe carried out a school shooting in the state of Wisconsin was a 15-year-old female pupil.
Wisconsin Police confirmed her identity as 15-year-old student Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha.
The latest US school gun attack to rock the US also left a teacher and another teenager dead, as well as the 15-year-old.
She was a pupil at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, where the latest gun attack took place.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said that it was a second-grade student who made the initial call to report the shooting to authorities just before 11am.
He added: “I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas,” Mr Barnes said.
“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened.”
Police said the person who opened fire was dead, apparently by suicide, when officers arrived.
Lisa Adams, spokesperson for SSM Health, also confirmed that two patients injured in the Monday attack have already been discharged, adding that two others remain in stable at a nearby hospital.
Two students remained in critical condition at a different hospital, according to the Madison Police Chief.
Abundant Life is a non-denominational Christian school, from nursery to secondary school, with approximately 390 students in Madison, the state capital.
After the shooting, students were led next door to City Church where buses took them elsewhere to be reunited with families.
Nine schools in Madison were locked down for a few hours as a precaution.
My full statement on the school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School today in Madison.
I'm directing flags across the state to be immediately lowered to half-staff as we honor those whose lives were senselessly taken in this tragedy. pic.twitter.com/HYIjVYcqaF— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) December 16, 2024
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“As difficult as today is, that’s still someone’s child that’s gone,” the police chief said.
A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, he added.
“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” Mr Barnes said.
Someone from the school called police to report an active shooter shortly before 11am.
Emergency services personnel who were in training just three miles away went to the school for an actual emergency, Mr Barnes said.
Investigators believe the weapon used was a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
“I’m not aware that the school had metal detectors nor should schools have metal detectors. It’s a safe space,” Mr Barnes said.
Police blocked off roads around the school. Federal agents were at the scene to assist local law enforcement.
Abundant Life asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post.
Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, went to the school and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was safe.
“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Ms Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”
In a statement, the White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and officials were in touch with local authorities to provide support.
“As a father, a grandfather, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home,” Wisconsin governor Tony Evers said.
“This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it.”
It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the US in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas.
The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active drills in their classrooms.
But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.
Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a non-profit organisation that researches healthcare issues.
Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the country needs to do more to prevent gun violence.
“I hoped that this day would never come to Madison,” she said.
